Re: Sorting after a search

I agree. SQL DBs are made to do that stuff.

Adam Lang
Systems Engineer
Rutgers Casualty Insurance Company
http://www.rutgersinsurance.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Werby" <steve-lists@befriend.com>
To: <pgsql-php@postgresql.org>; "rickf" <rickf@dufferinresearch.com>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 11:49 AM
Subject: Re: [PHP] Sorting after a search


> "rickf" <rickf@dufferinresearch.com> wrote:
> > Currently I have the script below which works fine as far as it goes.
> >
> > I need to be able to sort on surname (later on other fields based on
user
> > input).
> >
> >   I tried to work in some of the sort functions like asort but couldn't
> get
> > any output.
> > I suspect the problem lies in passing the values from the first search
to
> > the sort.
> >
> > I tried used pg_fetch_array to do the initial search then pass it on to
> > asort but without luck.
>
> Why not add an ORDER BY clause to the SQL statement?  It should be much
> faster to sort the records within PostgreSQL than within PHP.
>
> > Ultimately I will be having three search fields, a user pick list for
> > fields outputted and sorted on.
>
> I'd suggest building your SQL statement dynamically.
>
> $sql = "SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE surname LIKE '$NAME%' ";
> if ( $radio[1] == 1 ) { $sql .= 'ORDER BY last_name '; }
> else if ( $radio[2] == 1 ) { $sql .= 'ORDER BY first_name '; }
>
> Then if you're using checkboxes to allow the user to set the fields to
> display, loop through the user inputted list and dynamically set the
fields
> to display.  Unless you're using PHP's serialize() and session functions
(or
> a similar method) you're not going to be able to pass the query results
from
> page to page to sort anyway - you'll have to requery Postgre every time
you
> want to change the output on the page based on some user input.
>
> --
> Steve Werby
> President, Befriend Internet Services LLC
> http://www.befriend.com/
>
>
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